Links, 12.20.10

Roaring (well, limping) down the homestretch toward Dec. 25, we discover that energetic people are still finding time to write interesting things. Shamefacedly, we present the links for the week.

More about NGS: Seventy-five speakers, 180 lectures, a Kids Kamp and a partridge in a pear tree … wait, we got carried away at the end there. Anyway, take an advance look at offerings for the 2011 National Genealogical Society conference in Charleston, S.C.

Reclaiming history: Historians researching a site in southern Colorado are uncovering insights about a vanished community of Hispanic farmers who were displaced by the coming of the railroad. Virginia Sanchez, researcher for the Colorado Society of Hispanic Genealogy, says the community of Cuchara is but one of many similar communities whose rise and fall signified a major cultural shift in Colorado history.

For what it’s worth: Like me, Bill at West in New England was struck by a quote from American Genealogist magazine (via Martin Hollick) in which the American Society of Genealogists asserts that research online cannot qualify as permanent contributions to the field. Unlike me, Bill has gotten around to writing a post about it that ponders the question of what a genealogy blog is worth.

Who He Is: The country music blog The Boot takes a look at Tim McGraw’s projected appearance on Who Do You Think You Are?

Milestone: The official heraldry office of Scotland has appointed its first woman herald — the first, actually, in the entire United Kingdom. (h/t Dick Eastman)

Maybe next time I see you, the Muzak will have switched back to regular songs. Have a holly, jolly week.